Rottweiler Mauls, Kills 2-year-old

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. — A 2-year-old boy in a neighbor's back yard was attacked and killed Friday by a pet Rottweiler as his mother tried in vain to pull the huge dog away, police said.

Billy Sheppard Jr. died at Nassau County Medical Center after a severe mauling by the 121-pound dog at the Hicksville home of Thomas Link, where the boy's mother was baby-sitting 4-year-old Ryan Link.

Police said that they are still unsure how the 5-year-old dog, named Thor, got out of a 4-foot stockade-fenced pen in the Links' back yard. But the dog immediately attacked Billy, leaving a severe head wound, Detective Sgt. Edward Carey said.

''When I went to look at the kid, I got sick to my stomach,'' said neighbor Raymond Wojcik, who ran over as police arrived. ''You'd never recognize the kid when you saw him.''

Carey said the boy's mother, Jill Sheppard, tried to pull the dog away. She was unable to save her son but managed to get the dog back into its pen before police arrived.

Neither Jill Sheppard nor Ryan Link was harmed, police said.

The dog, which was described by neighbors as otherwise mild and good-tempered, was sedated by police and removed by authorities. The dog was at the town animal shelter Friday night and will be kept in quarantine for 10 days and tested for rabies.

Charles Yodice, shelter director, said he would be in contact with the dog's owner, but ''I would imagine that he would not really want the animal back,'' he said.